Canada's SARS fear prompts quarantine [SARS now in Montreal?]

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 4-19-03 | GLORIA GALLOWAY

[Prince Charles]

Canada's SARS fear prompts quarantine

April 19, 2003

BY GLORIA GALLOWAY

TORONTO--The SARS outbreak that health officials are trying to contain in Toronto may have traveled to Montreal, raising new concerns that the disease could spread more widely.

A Toronto man who attended a business conference in Montreal had symptoms, and now 450 people from the meeting are under quarantine.

Also, a 252-unit condominium building in Toronto is under scrutiny because of concern the virus may have been mysteriously passed among residents.

All of this comes as health officials try to bolster defenses against further spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, a possibility much feared over the holiday weekend.

''We're still concerned that we are at a very, very critical time,'' said James Young, Ontario's public security commissioner.

The concerns demonstrate how easily one infected person can cause multiple generations of exposure.

Both the potential infection in Montreal and the possible spread of SARS through the condominium building can be traced to a man who went to Scarborough Grace Hospital on March 16, the night the son of the Canadian woman who contracted the disease in Hong Kong was being treated.

That man died, as did his wife; 16 members of his extended family became infected with the disease. His son, who visited him briefly in the emergency room, unwittingly spread SARS to about 30 members of his Bukas-Loob Sa Diyos Covenant Community, a Toronto-area religious group.

A member of that group who had symptoms shared a van to Montreal last Saturday with several others traveling to a conference.

The next day, the man returned to Toronto and checked in to a hospital. He was diagnosed with probable SARS on Tuesday. As a result, hundreds of Quebecers have been placed under quarantine, marking the first large-scale exposure to the disease in the province.

Alerted by Toronto public health officials, authorities in Montreal quickly phoned the 450 people who had attended the meeting. Most were from the greater Montreal area, but about 50 came from Toronto and New York.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 208 people in the United States who are thought to have SARS, but only 35 who have pneumonia, a key symptom. Canadian numbers are much higher.

Scripps Howard News Service

[Paleo Conservative]

Too bad it's not in Ottawa.

[Paleo Conservative]

Too bad it's not in Ottawa.

[VOA]

Too bad it's not in Ottawa.

I've not been east of Saschatchewan for years...but I'd prefer Montreal and Quebec City
over Ottawa if the Canadian officials simply refuse to be proactive about the SARS outbreak
in their country.

That might tilt the balance in the Canadian populace to the sane side.

[CathyRyan]

TORONTO -- The trauma ward at a Toronto hospital is closed and emergency cases are being redirected as a precaution against SARS.

Dr. Mary Vearncombe of Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre said several health workers are now isolated.

She said there are four employees with suspected SARS and eight others are being investigated.

It is believed the workers were exposed to two SARS cases at the hospital.

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=53F7F054-C0B1-4C7F-A219-66D73888A7F6

[DannyTN]

"SARS is under control! Travel freely! There is no SARS!"

[DannyTN]

What city disaster teams should be doing is figuring out how to quarantine sections of a city.

Rather than face a protracted quarantine of a major city, temporarily impose travel restrictions to the city. Then impose travel restrictions in predefined blocks within the city.

That way, once you are sure certain that sections are free of disease, you can restore normal traffic to parts of the city.

[SMGFan]

Long Island Boy suspected of having SARS following trip to Toronto.

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-lisars0426,0,6114254.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dheadlines

[SMGFan]

Second Nassau SARS Case Suspected

By Dawn MacKeen

Along with the odometer, a 14-year-old Nassau County boy's fever climbed as he rode back Monday from Toronto with his family. A cough soon followed. On Thursday, he became the second Nassau resident believed to have SARS.
Nassau health officials stress there's no cause for alarm, since the teen has not been in contact with the general public since his return. The people he came into contact with on Long Island have been notified and are being monitored. The patient is in isolation at a local hospital, which officials wouldn't identify, with pneumonia.
"People in Nassau County do not have to worry about getting SARS at this point, and hopefully that will continue to be the case," said David Ackman, health commissioner for Nassau County. A total of 38 suspected cases have been reported in New York State.
There have been 4,649 cases worldwide and 274 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The agency recently advised against traveling to Toronto, Beijing and the Shanxi Province in China, the regions hardest hit by severe acute respiratory syndrome. Both cases in Nassau County were believed to been contracted elsewhere, a point public health officials stressed...

[RightWhale]

Is it only a month? There is a SARS case in Anchorage, Alaska, safely isolated at the hospital.

[headsonpikes]

This is not really very funny.

The SARS virus seems to be a survivor; this disease may yet turn out to be a big problem for us all.